Travel money top tips

Travel money exchange: Top tips to get the best deal on your holiday money.

Credit cards - Some cards are specifically for use overseas and don’t add on extra charges, like the majority do. That said, they are more secure then carrying cash, as if stolen, your credit card issuer can cancel the card

Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.com, said: "Some decent data out of the US helped lift the dollar this afternoon, in the process clearing the way for the FTSE to hit a fresh high.

"Though both the retail sales and consumer sentiment figures, at 0.6 per cent and 98.1 respectively, were a tad lower than expected, they still provided enough fuel for the dollar to overturn its earlier losses.

"With the pound shedding the growth it had managed during the morning the FTSE received the green light to climb a bit higher this Friday."

Higher oil prices in recent weeks and Britain's strong economy after the referendum have also helped to push up the FTSE.

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John Higgins from Capital Economics said: "It is tempting to attribute the FTSE 100’s winning streak to a renewed plunge in sterling.

"But other factors have also been at play."

He added: "One explanation for this development is the resilience of the UK economy in the wake of the vote for Brexit.

"Indeed, the FTSE Local UK Index (which includes firms whose sales are at least 70% domestic) has done as well as the FTSE 100 (which is chock-full of multinationals that stand to benefit from a weaker currency) since the end of November.

"Finally, the FTSE 100 has probably also benefited from spill-over effects in the wake of Trump’s election victory on 8th November, judging by the performances of many sectors of the MSCI US Index (which closely mirrors the S&P 500) and UK Index since then."